National league table puts Colyton Grammar School top in four counties

A national secondary education league table has placed Colyton Grammar School (CGS) as top state secondary school in Devon, Cornwall, Somerset (including Bristol) and Dorset.

The Sunday Times Parent Power league table saw CGS enter the top 20 nationally, climbing in position from 25th last year to 17th in the UK.

The league table also revealed that, not only had CGS topped the league table for the four counties, it had also outperformed all independent secondary schools in the same area. In a foreword to the league table written by Professor Alan Smithers, Director of the Centre for Education and Employment Research at the University of Buckingham, he said: “There are signs that at last state schools are beginning to make inroads into what looked to be an impregnable lead held by independent schools.”

The news comes after a Department for Education league table based on progress identified CGS as the best performing co-educational secondary school in England, and the highest scoring school in the South West - Devon, Cornwall, Somerset and Dorset.

The league table positions reflect the examination success the school has enjoyed this year across a wide range of subjects. In all, 87% of Colyton students who sat GCSEs this year achieved the top three grades of 9 to 7. 99% achieved grades 9 to 5, and 40% achieved a grade 9, ten times the national average of 4%.

Some 21 students achieved the coveted eight or more subjects with grade 9, around 18% of this year’s GCSEs cohort. This compares to the national figure of 0.2%.

Across subjects, 100% of students who sat Computer Science achieved grade 7 or above. Subjects where 85% or more students achieved grade seven or above include Biology, Chemistry, English Language, English Literature, Geography, History, Maths, Physics and Religious Studies.

Students who studied for EDEXCEL Business sat the ‘old style’ GCSE and 100% achieved A* to A – the best results for this subject in the country. One student achieved the highest mark in the country and with three others is in the UK top 10 – meaning that four of the highest-marked top 10 Business Studies students in the UK come from Colyton.

Tim Harris, Head Teacher at CGS, commented: “This has been a great year for CGS, and my congratulations go to our students, their families and my colleagues for working together to achieve success. For us, these are firm foundations upon which we will build further achievement and reflect the overall impact of grammar schools on performance in the state education sector.”

The full Sunday Times Parent Power league table is available at www.sundaytimes.co.uk/parentpower, and more information about CGS can be found at www.colytongrammar.com.